


Do I belong?

by Paladinsol



Category: Mad Max Series (Movies), Mad Max: Fury Road
Genre: AU, Attempted Sexual Assault
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-28
Updated: 2015-07-03
Packaged: 2018-04-06 16:38:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,890
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4229142
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Paladinsol/pseuds/Paladinsol
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU set after the end of the events of Mad Max: Fury Road. Rictus and Corpus survive and struggle to find their place in the new Citadel. Told from Furiosa's POV</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Discovery

Furiosa looks up at the man, who towers above her. He looks sad, like a lost War Boy. Maybe like a lost puppy? She saw one of those in the books Joe had, once. She's not sure how or why he's here. The last she'd seen, he was on the war rig Nux had flipped. Briefly she wonders if that means Nux is alive and kicking as well. It's only been a few hours since the chase and she's so tired she wants to fall to the floor and sleep everything away.

"My pa?" He asks tearfully. Furiosa shakes her head. Rictus collapses to the floor, beating it with his fists, like a child throwing a fit. "No!" he wails, the noise echoing off the caverns of the Citadel.

Her instincts tell her to be to be afraid, she's spent years in fear of this giant of a man. But he's not a man, not really. He's a child forced to believe his father was a God. She crouches down and places her good hand on his shoulder, "Rictus, I'm sorry."

He looks up at her, eyes red rimmed and streaming with tears. "It's not fair, "he whispers quietly. Furiosa nods. She knows his pain.  
"Rictus, I..." she trails off, unsure how to reach him. His face turns to the ground again, and she can almost feel him withdraw into himself. She tries again, "Rictus, did I ever tell you my mother died?" He looks up at her, confusion on his face. "She died three days after I was brought here. I loved her so much, and she loved me so much as well." She takes a deep breath before continuing, "And I know your father loved you, Rictus. He wanted the best for you and your brothers." Rictus nods, and Furiosa feels it tug at her heart. He places his hand over hers and sits down, tears still falling onto the dusty ground. "He told me he would live forever," Rictus says quietly. "I don't know what to do without him. He always told me what to do." Furiosa nods, leaving her hand on his shoulder. "We'll figure it out. You and me."  
Rictus almost smiles at that.  
  
  
The sun is dipping below the horizon when Furiosa seeks out Corpus in the outlook of the Citadel. Rictus has cried himself to sleep and Furiosa leaves him to rest. She wants a word or two with his brother.  
  
Corpus is staring out at the fading light when she finds him. He looks just as lost as his brother, and for a moment Furiosa feels the same empathy she did for Rictus. Until she remembers Corpus is in full possession of his mental faculties. "You have a lot to answer for.".  
Corpus responds, without turning, "You took longer to get to me than I'd have thought, Imperator."  
"I was with your brother."  
"Is he dead?"  
"No."  
"So, you've come to pass judgement on me, Imperator?"  
"That was your father's job. I don't consider myself a god among men."  
"He was a god."  
"In name alone. In deed he was a monster."  
"Answer me this, Imperator: Did he not make life better for those he choose? Medicine, food, water, housing, society!"  
"We will do the same, but we will do it for _everyone,_ Corpus. The question here, is do you have a place here? Or do you wish to be with your father on the highways of Valhalla?"  
"Can you promise me my life?"  
"Prove to me you deserve it."

  
The light of the sun is gone and the War Boys have lit the lanterns that decorate the halls of the Citadel. This place is bittersweet to Furiosa. She never imagined she'd ever be here again. The green place wasn't supposed to be sour and dead. Instead of lying in _grass_ she's coordinating the Citadel. There's so much work to be done, and Max isn't here to help her. She smiles, it's hard work, but he was right. It feels like hope.


	2. Hurt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rictus wants to get away from the nightmares for a while.

Furiosa stumbles to her old bedchamber and locks the door. He head is throbbing more than she ever thought was possible. A mirror lays on her sidetable, scavenged from the wasteland. A glance inside confirms the worst. Her eye looks terrible. Sighing, she puts the mirror back down and lies on the bed, placing her hand over her ribs. Fixing herself up can wait. Sleep is calling to her, and her one good eyelid is drooping of its own accord. Before she even hits the pillow everything goes black, and she doesn't know anything else.  
  
  
She's woken by a loud banging noise. Disoriented, she sits up, inhaling sharply at the pain in her ribs. The lanterns have burned down and are throwing shadows across the room. The noise sounds again and she realises it's someone knocking on her door. Slowly, painfully, she makes her way to the door, opening it a crack.  
  
"F-Furiosa?"  
"Rictus? What are you doing here?"  
"I had a nightmare, please can I come into your room?"  
"Rictus, I dont think that's a good idea."  
Rictus stares mournfully at Furiosa, eyes wide. She grits her teeth, the pain is pounding in her side and in her head making it hard to think. Should she let him in? He's just lost his father...  
  
Sighing, she steps back and opens the door. "Only for tonight, Rictus."   
Rictus smiles a childish grin of pure joy and skitters inside, forcing Furiosa to step aside to avoid getting knocked over. Furiosa shakes her head, a small smile tugging at the corner of her lips as she shuts the door behind him and makes her way back over to the bed. Rictus drapes himself over her as a child might their parent, and lies his head down on her chest. He's asleep almost immediately and Furiosa follows him into the dark.

 

For the second time that night, Furiosa is jolted awake. This time she can't move, her arms and legs are pinned down, and her vision is blocked. It takes a few seconds for comprehension to come flooding in, and she begins to struggle against her bonds. "Rictus," she cries out, "Stop!"

He ignores her.  
She curses herself for being so foolish and being taken in by his grief. She was the one assigned to protect the girls from him and here she is, pinned under him. Struggling and trying to scream through some kind of muffler, she works a knee free and it goes flying straight into his groin. Rictus screams in pain and falls backwards onto the bed. Furiosa grabs the blindfold and the gag and rips them off while he whimpers in pain. Her entire body is pure agony but she plants a boot into his chest and knocks him to the floor, placing her foot at his throat. "You never touch me again!" she yells. Rictus nods, still writhing in pain. "Now, get out," Furiosa commands in a low voice.  
  
The door slams behind Rictus and she locks it, slumping to the floor and exhaling slowly. It's a moment before the tears come, stinging her eye, and every other small wound on her face. She's crying for Angharad, she's crying for the green place, and she's crying for believing for even a moment Rictus had changed. All the hope she felt earlier has drained away, leaving a black hole in the pit of her stomach.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> that hurt to write.


	3. Rest

The morning dawns, cold and grey.  _Well, cold for the Wasteland anyway,_  Furiosa thinks to herself as she watches the sun rise in the Citadel's conservatory. There's faint noises from the warren of tunnels behind her, indicating that other people are awake and settling into the day. She wonders briefly, if any of them noticed the commotion last night. She doubts it. The walls are thick enough to conceal any amount of noise.   
  
The door creaks open and Furiosa turns to face it. Cheedo walks in, yawning and rubbing her eyes. Furiosa cracks a smile, wincing at the pain on the right side of her face. "Hey," she says softly. Cheedo waves a shy greeting and murmurs a hello in in response.   
"Did you sleep okay, Cheedo?"  
"Yeah, did you?"  
"... As well as can be expected."  
"You sound upset, Furiosa. You can tell me, you know."  
Furiosa smiles thinly, "It's okay, don't worry about me."  
Cheedo squares up to her, "Joe may have called me fragile but I've proven I'm brave! Without me you would never have gotten up on the Gigahorse!"  
Furiosa steps back, "I know you're brave, Cheedo."  
"None of you act like it."  
"You could be the fiercest Imperator out of all of us," Furiosa replies with a smile. Cheedo nods, smiling back. Furiosa feels relieved, though she's careful not to show it.  _As if it would matter with half of my face pretty much unrecogniseable_.  
  
The door creaks open again, and this time it's Capable, Toast, and Dag. They all look tired, like they haven't slept well. Furiosa motions them over. "That was some day yesterday," Toast laughs weakly. The others just nod. Dag produces a small tub of a foul smelling paste. "The Keeper taught me about this. It will help your eye." Furiosa nods and takes it, dabbing some on her eye as the others chatter, mostly about the previous day's events. Furiosa tunes it out, unable to bear it. She doesn't want to think about it, not yet.  
  
The sun is above the sand dunes and high into the sky when Furiosa finally stands up and stretches, inhaling sharply when her ribs feel like they're going to suffocate her. The smell of the ointment is especially terrible so close to her nose but it does seem to be soothing the pain, so Furiosa decides to keep it on. She slips the tub into her pocket and leaves the girls to watch the morning, closing the door softly behind her.

She's halfway down the hallway when she hears footsteps behind her. It's Capable, jogging slightly to catch up, red hair bouncing slightly with each step. "Furiosa, wait. I need to ask you something."  
Furiosa frowns. She'd been worried about this.  
"I heard Rictus survived. Do you think there's any chance Nux might have..."  
"I don't know, I'm sorry."  
"We need to look for him then!"  
"If he's alive he'll come to us."  
"He's probably hurt, wounded, maybe Larry and Barry are making him weak. Furiosa, please, we need to check. Nux deserves to be here far more than those  _monsters_ you're letting live! I'll go on my own if I have to."  
Furiosa sighs. She can't deny that she herself had wondered if Nux had somehow managed to jump from the flipped War Rig. "We'll look for him together. And we'll take backup in case anyone else survived the pile up."  
Capable lights up, "When do we leave!?"  
"Soon. I will organise a search party and then have you called."  
  
Capable skips away to tell the others and Furiosa continues down the hallway, knowing she needs the best muscle she can get for the job. And this one owes her. She doesn't like it, however, and the mere thought of it makes her stomach turn. But she promised.  
  
She bangs on the door to the now deceased Immortan's room. "Rictus! Get your ass out here! We're going hunting."


End file.
